Would you pray with me? Father, you have promised us so much in your word, and I ask that you would prepare our hearts to receive it. God, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer. Amen.

Well, good evening. My name is Joshua Steele, and I would like to tell you all a true story.

On Christmas morning, 1996, young Joshua Steele, that’s me, was headed straight for an emotional catastrophe, though he did not know it. You see, for days and weeks and even for months, little Josh had been getting his hopes up higher and higher for one Christmas present in particular, the large, talking, Buzz Lightyear action figure with pop-out wings. That’s key. Maybe you remember this. Josh affectionately referred to this action figure as the Big Buzz, and it was all he could think about leading up to Christmas.

Tragically, young Josh did not receive the Big Buzz. He got many other Christmas presents that year, including a much smaller Buzz Lightyear action figure that kind of added insult to injury, really, because its wings didn’t pop out, but no Big Buzz.

I was crushed. I was crushed. Crushed. Because my expectations had not been met. Christmas was all but ruined.

And now, I don’t have this good of a memory of my entire childhood. I remember this particular incident so well because it was captured on film. Somewhere out there, there’s a VHS of little me opening all of his presents and then whining to his parents about not getting the Big Buzz.

And if I’m honest with you, I’m still crushed by the Big Buzz incident. Not because I still want the action figure, but I’ll take one if you’ve got an extra. I’m crushed because I can barely stand to watch that video. The memory of it makes me sick because I just can’t believe my stunning lack of gratitude and what a slap in the face it must have been to my parents, my hardworking parents who gave me so many other gifts.

And, you know, I’d like to think that I’ve grown up a bit since the Big Buzz incident, but I’m not so sure that I have. Because over the years, I’ve internalized this lesson, this almost a mantra, and it’s this. When in doubt, lower your expectations.

Right? But then there’s a one on the Enneagram, which I’ve picked up on since I’ve gotten here. As a perfectionist, as a perfectionist, I’m quick to add to that. Lower your expectations for everyone else except yourself.

And I’d like to think that this line of thinking makes me somewhat of an expectational ninja. Because after all, it seems like the best way to avoid disappointment. It seems like the best way to protect other people from the pain of disappointing you. It seems like the key to doing better and to cutting your losses in life.

But if you’re not careful, it will kill and shrivel your soul. It will leave you, like me, expectationally challenged. Because dealing with disappointment in a merely human way will always leave you expectationally challenged. With your expectations either impossibly high or, more often, depressingly low. Because after all, how often are our seemingly high expectations really just low expectations in disguise?

Here’s what I mean. For example, my high expectation for the Big Buzz action figure was a low expectation in disguise. It was really a low expectation of my parents’ actual love for me as it was expressed that Christmas. And maybe your supposedly high expectations of yourself, of your friends, of your spouse, of your children, or even of your God are simply low expectations in disguise.

As is so often the case, I believe C.S. Lewis said it best. This quote here might be worth the price of the whole sermon. In his well-known sermon, The Weight of Glory, Lewis said,

If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised to us in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong but far too weak. We are half-hearted creatures fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.

End of Lewis quote.

This is our problem. Our desires, our hopes, our expectations are off the mark. We are, in my words, expectationally challenged.

So what’s the solution? And I mean, even if there is a solution, how on earth can we hope to find the solution if we don’t even know how to hope correctly, right? Well, I’ve got good news for you and for me tonight and it’s from our Gospel text and it’s this.

Jesus challenges the expectations of the expectationally challenged. Jesus challenges the expectations of the expectationally challenged. Now let’s unpack that a bit.

Please turn with me to John chapter one. I’d encourage you, I know you can read it in the scripture handout in your bulletin. If you’ve got a Bible in front of you in the pews, I’d encourage you to grab that. Turn to John chapter one and the pew Bibles, that’s gonna be on page 1646. 1646 is the beginning of the Gospel of John. I’ll wait a second. All right, so John one.

To put it simply, there is a lot going on in John chapter one. After the famous prologue of the Gospel, which refers to the first 18 verses, where we find out that Jesus Christ is the eternal and fully divine Son of God, after that, the focus quickly turns in John chapter one to John the Baptist and his ministry. Now John the Baptist, as Father Kevin put it a few weeks ago, was not it. He was not himself the Messiah. He is not the long-awaited Savior King of Israel. Instead, he is preparing the way for the Messiah, for the Christ.

And from John one, verse 35, all the way to the end of the chapter, including our passage, what we see basically is the baton getting passed from John the Baptist to Jesus. Because John had already gathered disciples throughout his ministry, and now Jesus is going to gather his first disciples, his first followers.

And things start to go off pretty smoothly, without a hitch. In verses 35 through 40, two of John’s disciples follow Jesus. One of them was Andrew. In verses 41 and 42, Andrew brings his brother Simon to Jesus, and Simon receives a new name, Peter, or Cephas, meaning rock. And as we find out, that’s a name he’s going to need to grow into, right?

In verse 43 then, our passage begins, and it reads, the next day, Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, follow me. And interestingly enough, we’re not given Philip’s reply. But the baton pass from John the Baptist to Jesus is still going smoothly, because Philip is already spreading the good news about Jesus by verse 45. Philip finds Nathanael and tells him, we have found the one Moses wrote about in the law, and about whom the prophets also wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. In other words, hey, we’ve found the Messiah. We have found our long-awaited Savior King.

And at this point in the narrative, as you’re reading along in John chapter 1, you expect the baton pass to go smoothly. But instead, what we get is a slight fumble. You can almost hear, I like to imagine Nathanael drinking something at this point and spitting it out at verse 46. Nazareth? Can anything good come from there?

Now what’s going on here? Why this reaction? Well, we can’t be 100% sure, but we do find out in John chapter 21 verse 2 that Nathanael was from Cana. Cana and Nazareth were right by each other in Galilee. And so, what I think is happening here is a little village rivalry.

Now indulge me a bit here. It would be kind of like if I told Father Kevin, hey, Kevin, we found the Messiah and he’s a White Sox fan. Okay? I should have probably prepared you for that beforehand. Sorry. White Sox fan, really? I mean, Nazareth, really? Nowhere Nazareth? Can anything good come out of Nazareth?

So it’s not the most intense objection ever to Jesus, but I still think that it’s a hiccup. It’s a fumble. And I think it reveals in a subtle way that Nathanael, just like us, was expectationally challenged.

Sure, he was waiting for the Messiah. He was waiting for God to show up, but his expectations were off the mark. And on one hand, it seems like he had expectations that were too high, right? Surely, if God’s going to show up, he’s not going to do it in a backwater village like Nazareth. But on the other hand, I think Nathanael’s expectations were too low here. He allowed a neighborhood rivalry to cloud his vision of God’s good creation, including the people of Nazareth. He was expectationally challenged.

And by the way, what would you do if you were in Philip’s shoes here? Because I know if I were in Philip’s shoes, I would probably respond with an objection or an argument. Well, you see, Nathanael, he’s not really from Nazareth. I mean, you’ve read those verses about Bethlehem, right? Or maybe I’d preach a sermon to him about the expectationally challenged Christian. Nathanael, can I tell you a story about Buzz Lightyear? No. None of that.

Instead, what Philip does is he invites Nathanael to come and see Jesus. Come and see Jesus. And if this sermon ends up being worth your time, that’s what I’m going to ask you to do as well. Come and see Jesus. Because what do expectationally challenged people need? They need to come and see Jesus.

So Nathanael was expectationally challenged. Jesus now challenges Nathanael’s expectations. First, by revealing their true nature.

In verse 47, when Jesus sees Nathanael, he proclaims, here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit. You remember what I just said about Peter receiving a new name that he had to grow into? This is kind of like Nathanael getting a new name that he has to grow into. Here truly is an Israelite or here is a true Israelite, someone who is devoted to seeking and serving the God of Israel in whom there is no deceit, no guile, no craftiness. No, this person tells the truth. He tells it like it is.

And I think there’s a couple things going on here. First, I think that this is a genuine compliment and description of Nathanael with perhaps just a slight winking note of you sure do speak your mind, Nathanael, just like you did about Nazareth. And secondly, I think that the phrase a true Israelite in whom there is no deceit should remind us at least a little bit of Jacob who himself received the new name Israel and in whom there was quite a bit of deceit. So keep Jacob in mind. He’ll come back later.

Nathanael, though, he gets straight to the point in verse 48. I love it. He asked Jesus, how do you know me? Jesus answered, I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you. Then Nathanael declared, Rabbi, you are the son of God. You are the king of Israel. This is quite the transformation, really. I mean, all it took was a fig tree to get Nathanael from, can anything good come from Nazareth to, teacher, you are the son of God. You are the king of Israel.

So again, what’s going on here? What’s the big deal about the fig tree, right? Well, on one level, this just straightforwardly seems to be a miracle. Jesus would have had no way of knowing that Nathanael was there and yet he knows. He knew exactly where Nathanael had been before Philip encountered him.

But I think there’s also something a bit deeper going on here. You see, the fig tree provided comfortable shade in which one could sit and study the scriptures. And the fig tree also, in the Hebrew scriptures, developed the connotation of the peace and prosperity that would characterize the coming Messianic age when, quote, everyone would sit under their own vine and their own fig tree. That occurs a couple times. So it’s possible that in addition to correctly stating where Nathanael had been physically, Jesus is also revealing, albeit in a subtle way, knowledge of where Nathanael is at spiritually. Familiar with the scriptures, Nathanael is waiting for the Messiah.

And whatever the precise meaning of the fig tree statement, it ends up being exactly what Nathanael needs to hear. It ends up being enough for him to confess that Jesus is the Messiah. He is the divine son of God and the royal king of Israel.

So Jesus challenges Nathanael’s expectations by first revealing their true nature. While they are partially correct, we find out that Nathanael’s expectations are also too low. Because in verse 50, Jesus says, you believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree? I think you could put a question mark there. You will see greater things than that. In other words, Nathanael, you think that the fig tree thing was cool? Well, great, but you’re far too easily pleased. You will see greater things than that.

You see, Jesus doesn’t just reveal the true nature of Nathanael’s expectations. He then raises them and promises to fulfill them himself. Because in verse 51, Jesus adds, very truly I tell you, amen, amen, I say to you, and here the you is plural, you all will see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. What’s that mean?

Well, the phrase the Son of Man was one of Jesus’ favorite titles for himself. And you’d think if you just hear the phrase Son of Man that it means something like a human being or son of a human being. And it sometimes can mean just that. But given the background of this title in Daniel chapter 7, where one like a Son of Man is given authority, glory, and dominion, I think that this title emphasizes not Jesus’ humanity, but ultimately his divinity.

But what about the angels of God ascending and descending part? Well, as we read earlier in the service in Genesis chapter 28, that’s where this imagery comes from. The chapter right after Jacob deceives his brother Esau, Jacob is on the run to Haran, and he receives a vision from God, a vision of heaven and earth coming together as angels go up and down a stairway. And Jacob therefore calls that place the house of God and the gate of heaven. So by substituting Son of Man for Bethel’s stairway to heaven vision, Jesus is claiming to be the house of God in person. He is claiming to be the gate to heaven in person.

In other words, Jesus is saying, Nathanael, you need to raise your expectations and put your hope in me. You are going to see heaven and earth come back together and it is going to take place in and through me.

So to summarize, Nathanael, like us, was expectationally challenged. Jesus gave Nathanael exactly what he needed but Jesus also challenged Nathanael’s expectations by revealing their true nature, raising them and promising to fulfill them. This is how Jesus challenges the expectations of the expectationally challenged.

But what does that mean for you and me tonight? we need to come and see Jesus so that he can challenge our expectations as well. We need to pray that through the ministry of his Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ would reveal the true nature of our expectations, that he would raise them wherever and whenever they are inadequate, and that Jesus would help us to seek him as the fulfillment of our deepest longings.

So think with me for a moment of what this would look like. How do your expectations of yourself need to change? Are you trying to be your own savior? Or on the other hand, have you given up hope on yourself? You need to come and see Jesus in order to see yourself as a loved child of God, an imperfect yet loved child of God.

Secondly, how do your expectations of other people need to change? Are you expecting other people to fulfill your deepest longings? Or are you disguising your low expectations of who they are by forcing them to be who you want them to be? Or have you given up hope on certain people entirely? They’re never going to change. It’s not true. You need to come and see Jesus in order to see other people as he sees them, as imperfect yet loved children of God.

Finally then, how do our expectations of God need to change? Because friends, I’ll be honest with you, some days I don’t feel as brave as Philip with people like Nathanael. Come and see Jesus. Are you sure? Are you sure? Because Nathanael doesn’t really sound like he’s ready, right? I mean, maybe I should do some more prep work with people like Nathanael. Maybe I need to do some more research so that I can answer their questions. You know, get them ready. Warm up the crowd for Jesus.

That’s a low expectation of God. And if you like me are prone to low expectations of God sometimes, then we really need to come and see Jesus tonight.

But we can take heart because just like he did with Nathanael, Jesus gives us enough, exactly what we need, even as he promises us so much more, right? We have been given God’s holy word and unprecedented access to it. And we have been promised his full presence. We have been given each other, the church, and compared to other places in the world right now, especially and throughout history, unprecedented access to each other as believers. And we have been promised eternal communion with the saints. We have been given holy communion and we have been promised the wedding supper of the Lamb.

So tonight, as we prepare to come to the table, I invite you to come and see Jesus. let him challenge and change your expectations so that you can leave this place changed. Amen. Amen.